By 
A German cardinal has declared his participation in the controversial German Synodal Way finished, expressing deep skepticism about plans to establish a permanent synodal conference.
“For me the Synodal Way is concluded,” Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne said according to CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News.
The proposed synodal conference concept represents the latest iteration of plans to establish a permanent body in Germany in the wake of the controversial process, following repeated interventions by Pope Francis and the Vatican.
The cardinal’s remarks, made in an interview with Cologne’s Domradio, came as he confirmed he will not attend the sixth synodal assembly taking place this week in Stuttgart.
Woelki said he originally understood there would be five assemblies, all of which he attended. When the German bishops’ conference later decided to hold an evaluation session, he made clear he would not participate.
“In my view, this body does not have the mandate to evaluate what an individual diocesan bishop or individual diocese has or has not implemented from the decisions of the Synodal Way,” he said.
‘I have to answer to my ordination vows’
His remarks come as the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) has already approved statutes for a new synodal conference, while a decision by the German bishops’ conference and Vatican approval remain pending.
“We must wait to see what Rome actually says,” Woelki emphasized. “We must also wait to see whether the bishops’ conference at its plenary assembly in February actually approves the statutes in the form presented.”
The cardinal stressed his commitment to his ordination. “I can only say that I have to answer to my ordination vows. I promised to protect the faith of the Church and to walk the path in my diocese in unity with the pope.”
A central point of contention in the synodal conference statutes is the concept of joint deliberation and decision-making between diocesan bishops and non-bishops. Woelki acknowledged important work done by the process, particularly on abuse prevention and the exercise of power in the Church.
“I stand behind these themes,” he said, noting that he had already implemented reforms in Cologne.
Gänswein sees ‘wrong path’
The German Synodal Way passed numerous controversial resolutions with two-thirds majorities of bishops present, including measures calling for same-sex blessings, women’s ordination to the diaconate, reconsideration of priestly celibacy, and changes to Church practices based on transgender ideology.
Woelki said a “great deficiency” of the five assemblies was the failure to address evangelization, which Pope Francis emphasized in his 2019 letter “To the Pilgrim People of God in Germany.”
CNA Deutsch reported that Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, who championed the Synodal Way throughout his six-year tenure as president of the German bishops’ conference, announced Jan. 19 that he will not seek reelection when German bishops gather in February.
MORE IN WORLD‘Astonished’ German leaders take issue with Holy…
The latest warning by the Holy See about the risk of a new schism from Germany arising from the “Synodal Way” has been sharply rejected and met with “astonishment” by its organizers, who in turn…
Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the former private secretary to Pope Benedict XVI and current apostolic nuncio to the Baltic states, offered an even sharper assessment of the Synodal Way in a Jan. 23 interview with EWTN News.
“Anyone who has followed the events surrounding the Synodal Way from the beginning to the present day can see one important thing: that a series of demands of the Synodal Way lead away from the faith — they are not a clarification that leads to faith, but quite deliberately lead away from faith,” Gänswein said.
“That cannot be the goal, that something is done which ultimately does not help the faith and ultimately does not help the faithful either. In that respect, I can understand and comprehend this very well. And I can only hope and pray that this wrong path simply comes to an end soon.”
‘This is a question of the essence of the Church’
Woelki affirmed that the Church’s hierarchical-sacramental structure is essential to its nature: “We live as Catholics in a hierarchically-sacramentally constituted Church. This is not simply a question of organization but a question of the essence of the Church.”
“Therefore, I have difficulty with the idea of being part of a body in which 27 diocesan bishops, 27 members of the ZdK, and another 27 members yet to be elected deliberate and decide together,” he said.
The cardinal said synodality requires “listening well to one another” and “listening together to what the Holy Spirit is saying to us, deliberating and discerning together. But the decision is made in the end by the one who has been given the office for this and who must above all know himself bound to the faith of the Church.”
The German prelate said he perceives “fundamentally different views of what synodality means. Pope Francis — as well as Pope Leo — repeatedly emphasize that synodality is a spiritual event, a tool for evangelization.”
“I have the impression that at a certain point on the Synodal Way in Germany, it was primarily about implementing certain Church-political positions,” he said.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
We read: “The German Synodal Way passed numerous controversial resolutions with two-thirds majorities of bishops present, including measures calling for same-sex blessings, women’s ordination to the diaconate, reconsideration of priestly celibacy, and changes to Church practices based on transgender ideology.”
Clearly, and for all the world to see, the “tail” (so to speak) wagging the dog. That dog won’t hunt.
Not only will that dog not hunt, it will continue to make a tremendous mess in the house until it has been put outside – permanently.
If Pope Leo XIV presumes that allowing this terminal disease called the Synodal Way to have its way, and will eventually go away, the German Church will eventually do so by becoming a rotted corpse.
As Roman pontiff he has both authority and justification to take command action and reconstitute Germany’s Catholic faith with the faithful bishops, cardinals remaining with Woelki in the lead.
“the German Church will eventually do so by becoming a rotted corpse”
Not just that – since the German Church is a member of the Universal Church, the poison will spread to the whole body before its member dies.
In fact, what I wrote is too positive. The rot is spreading already; the German Church is marching in front, in a typically German way. But it is the same “Synodal Way”. I suspect the German Church is a kind of experimental lab.
I also think that it works well to have such a rotting and active Church ( “undead”) – simply for the purpose of a denial that the overall situation in the Church is bad. “See, they are doing THAT and we are not”.
If any of the measures passed with the so called 2/3 majority ever become law, it will be the death of what remains of the church. Older faithful with deep lockets will simply exit, perhaps to join a TLM parish whose leaders are not apostates or nuts. These lib Bishops should be careful shat they wish for. Bravo to the Cardinal for speaking out.
Cardinal Woelki – a straight shooter, if there ever was one.
May his tribe increase.
I believe Anna is correct, and I would amplify that because of the UNABASHED and UNABATED DERELICTION OF DUTY BY PONTIFFs and BISHOPS, in (almost universally) REFUSING TO CONFRONT and GOVERN AGAINST the INTENTIONAL APOSTASY OF PONTIFFs and BISHOPS, the Church as a whole will become a rotted corpse.
This is what faithful German Catholics persecuted inside the GERMAN Church call: “the Dirty Schism.”
It is the same pathology that Fr. Robert Imbelli has called “the De-Capitated Body of Christ.”
As Anna has likewise noted over recent 2 years or so, the Church has shown itself to be a great respecter of persons, so long as that excludes the one sidelined person – Jesus.
The German Bergoglio-Way was designed to destroy the Catholic remains that Pedo-Post-Conciliarism could not reach…
The morally bankrupt New Church has run its gamut; it is time to return to Catholicism.